Toll Holdings chief executive Brian Kruger says conditions have never been tougher. “[I’ve] never seen or been involved in a market where there’s been so much noise from our customers about the need for us to help them manage their margin issues,” he said.

Toll on Wednesday joined a growing list of companies to downgrade their profit forecasts.

The transport company’s shares slumped 15.2 per cent on a bleak day for share markets in which the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index fell 2.4 per cent, the worst session since December 19.

Westfield Group co-chief executive Steven Lowy added to the gloom at the property giant’s annual meeting, reporting that the squeeze was hurting retailers. “It’s clearly difficult out there,’’ he said.

Mr Kruger said it had been very difficult for Toll to boost its rates while retailers were feeling the squeeze on their profits.

About one-third of Toll’s revenue come from the retail sector, where it transports goods for companies including Coles, Woolworths, Coca-Cola Amatil, Foster’s, and Kmart.

For its part, Westfield said it had to drop rents on the 1100 leases it renewed or renegotiated in the past year. Tenants were paying 1.5 per cent less than under previous contracts on the same stores.

“We’ve got a well understood multi-speed economy and consumers are conservative, they’ve increased their savings rates,” Mr Lowy said as Westfield reported that sales in Australia rose by only 1.2 per cent in the 12 months to the end of March.

Westfield shares fell 2.23 per cent as a result.

Westpac’s monthly consumer sentiment index gained just 0.8 per cent to 95.3 for May, and is 8.3 per cent lower than a year ago.

“This is a disappointing result,’’ said Westpac chief economist Bill Evans, who noted that the survey was conducted after an unexpected drop in the jobless rate to 4.9 per cent, and the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to slash the benchmark lending rate on May 1 by 0.5 of a percentage point.

Retailers said they hoped the slow growth in sentiment would not be reflected in stores, and expressed ­surprise at the weak result, given the family payments in the budget.

Asked what impact the budget was likely to have on family finances in the next 12 months, only one in 10 indicated an improvement, the report showed. Another 36 per cent said it would “worsen” their family finances, half expected no change, and 4 per cent did not know.

“It’s still a concern that people feel so under pressure with their finances,’’ Australian National Retailers Association chief executive Margy Osmond said.

“We will be hoping that once that promised money starts filtering into bank accounts in the next month or so, that confidence and the retail figures will again begin to head upwards.”

One factor in the lacklustre result may have been a degree of disappointment among households that the standard variable mortgage rate was reduced by an average of only 0.37 of a percentage point.

“It seems extraordinary that the index is 2 per cent below its level in October last year when the official cash rate was 4.75 per cent – a full percentage point above the current level,’’ Mr Evans said.

“This soft response in confidence will be a disappointment for the Reserve Bank,’’ he said.

Among households with a mortgage, confidence increased only 3 per cent despite the largest cut in the standard variable mortgage rate since the global financial crisis.

Mr Evans said: “Since October 2011, the standard variable mortgage rate has fallen by 0.76 of a percentage point, yet the confidence of mortgage borrowers has actually fallen by 1.8 per cent.’’

Renewed turmoil overseas and evidence in the survey that the recent cut had done little to restore confidence could spur the Reserve Bank to make its next rate adjustment as early as next month, Mr Evans said.